Legislature ’07: Paid Family Leave – where lawmakers stand.

OLYMPIA – Paid Family Leave (SB 5659) is one of those payback issues that Democrat-backing unions have been clamoring for ever since the D’s began their rise to total control in Olympia.

It’s a concept that would allow workers to take time off to care for sick family members.
Though it would be paid for by the workers themselves, business says it doesn’t like it because it would mean more administrative costs.

For the second time in three years, the bill has passed out of the Senate. It also flew out of the Commerce Committee in the House, which is no surprise because union backer Rep. Steve Conway is the chair. Now it has to clear Appropriations and Rules, which essentially means leadership (Speaker Frank Chopp and Appropriations Chair Helen Sommers) has to give it the nod. As usual, they are being cagey about what what they’re going to do.

This year is seems to have more chance than ever in part because, in addition to the pressure from unions, a new national group Moms Rising headed by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner (wife of Bill Finkbeiner, former leader of the Senate Republican caucus) is turning the screws, too.

The group wants the bill because they say it helps women, especially moms, avoid poverty. If you want more details click the link it’s got lots of ‘em.

But also interesting is the new grass roots way they are lobbying state Representatives. If you click on the blog you can see the real time straw poll – mainly through the lawmakers’ assistants, who field most constituent calls – check it out, the changing interpretations of what Frank Chopp is going to do is interesting…everything from Solid Yea to Maybe to Needs more pressure.